How To Conquer Phobias And Presentation Anxiety

31Jul2019

How To Conquer Phobias And Presentation Anxiety

Phobias, trauma and presentation anxiety are debilitating

This podcast with Aaron on Monday morning covers the basics of what NLP means. This time we also talk about the incredible depth and breadth of NLP. We discuss some examples of programmes; how some long-established programmes are useful in our day-to-day lives. And of course phobias — programmes that aren’t very useful at all!

Most programmes run in the background, making them economical with our time and energy — allowing us to do or think other things at the same time.

And then we have those unwanted programmes

Phobias and anxieties fall into the ‘unwanted programmes’ category. It can be difficult to discover the triggers for our harmful or unwanted automatic programmes because they’re usually outside our awareness. We’re only aware that ‘I’ve done that damn thing again!’ and the programme has run to it’s normal conclusion! It’s very frustrating — to put it mildly.

What are those triggers?

Something we see, hear or even touch can be triggers for unhelpful programmes to kick off and run their full — and often harmful — course. Words, expressions, tones of voice, sounds, looks or even deep breaths can also trigger undesired responses.

We discuss how repetitive backlashes are simply automatic responses (programmes) to other people’s actions that show we’re not in control of our reactions and emotional states.

Example

One person’s words can trigger another into feeling hurt. And the facial expression resulting from experiencing hurt can trigger the first person into becoming angry! These triggers and automatic responses are seen in the dynamics of many families.

Getting a bit hot under the collar!

I must admit to getting a bit agitated when we talk about the ‘phobia’ or anxiety of public speaking or presenting and how it’s often spoken of as being normal. Nothing could be further from the truth! I even wrote about this in my eBook‘Presentations That Rock’. People create these anxieties because of passed on beliefs and by the way they’re thinking and visualising. What they imagine is often outside of their conscious awareness. I blow apart all the stupid and irrational beliefs people have about public speaking and describe ways you can be calm, confident and in control.

We speak about the differences between a real phobia and anxiety. I reveal some of the techniques for resolving phobias and traumas. These include dissociation, reviewing in black and white, running the ‘movie’ of the problem backwards at high speed etc.

Neuroscientific development over the last 20 years

The principles and processes developed over the last fifty years in NLP are now being verified by neuro-scientific research. It’s gratifying to be teaching these techniques to open-minded people who want to control their own lives and not be triggered by what others do or say.